Chat Noir, You Are An Onion
by AkumatizedPancake
Summary: A series of connected meetings between Chat Noir and Marinette, a friendship started by Adrien being an idiot, as per usual. You guessed it, lots of Marichat! Reviews welcome, and this will be updated whenever I feel like it.


I felt horrible about myself.

Marinette, my classmate, had a crush on me. Yes, _Marinette_. The sweet, yet awkward, girl whom I thought hated me with all her might. In my defence, It seemed so painfully _obvious_ for her to despise me. She stuttered while talking to me and donned an expression of fear if I tried to approach her. I had always assumed she still disliked me from the chewing gum incident, that maybe the umbrella hadn't fixed everything.

Boy, was I wrong.

She didn't even tell me herself; It was all Chloè. It was always _her_ who blabbed. She was always trying to ruin Marinette's life, so of course she would spill out Marinette's crush on me, while the bluenette in question was in the _same room_.

I kept looking back at that moment, when Marinette had tripped over what seemed to be her own feet. I had offered her a helping hand, which she accepted and blushed. She tried to thank me, but she stuttered her entire way through the simple phrase. Chloè, who was also occupying the near empty classroom, had scoffed.

"Please, Dupain-Cheng. You're acting like a complete fool."

Marinette had glared at her. I did too, feeling annoyed towards my so-called 'friend'. What was her problem?

"She's not being a fool, Chloè." I snapped defensively, and Chloè's eyes widened in confusion, then genuine shock, which was swiftly replaced with amusement. She had laughed cruelly, her snobbish voice breaking through the air.

"Oh my gosh, you don't know!"

"Don't know what?" I had asked, angrily confused. "This isn't a time to be mysterious, Chloè!"

She paused her laughter and replaced it with a cold and sinister smile.

"Adrikins, almost everyone except you can see that she has a major crush on you." She snickered and strutted away, Sabrina in tow. There had been a moment of silence as Marinette had looked at me with her blue, doe-like eyes in embarrassment. Her face turned an unattractive shade of scarlet while I stared right back at her in shock, dumbfounded. This continued for a minute or two before Marinette's legs finally worked again, and she dashed out of the room like a rabbit chased by a fox.

I had stood there without speaking a word! I mentally slapped himself. I didn't say anything; Why didn't I tell her that I liked someone else? It would have slightly released the tension between us, but now she would just _actually_ hate me. No, she would _despise_ me. She would despise me for not even telling her how I felt about her. Oh, I am such an idiot!

I was such an idiot that he barely focused on his nighttime patrol; In fact, I _didn't_ focus on his nighttime patrol: I just listened for loud booms that signified an akuma, but Paris was silent. So, I tried to imagine how the situation could have gone if he had just opened my stupid mouth and said something, anything. But I was shocked; How could such a sweet and caring girl love a blubbering idiot like me? It made no sense.

My Marinette radar must have been going into overtime, because before I knew it, I had ended up outside the Dupain-Cheng bakery. Perhaps I was hungry. Funnily enough, it tended to be closed at midnight. But why was there a girl still awake on top of it, staring into the distance? _Don't do it_ , I told myself, but I climbed up anyways, going against all of my inner being, and stood behind her. I tapped her left shoulder, and she screamed, spinning around and letting her fist cut through the air, into my stomach, effectively winding me.

"Ow," I groaned, doubling over and trying to get some air into my lungs.

"Jeez!" She gasped, clearly realising that she just punched Paris's beloved superhero in the gut, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

I struggled to speak while catching my breath, but I managed to wheeze:

"Noted."

She waited for me to catch my breath before folding her arms and looking at me in an accusatory fashion.

"Now, would you _please_ explain what on earth you are doing on my roof?"

I winced, realising I had no explanation.

"To be fair, I have no idea. You looked kind of sad... That's all." It ended up sounding like a question. _Damn_ , that girl's glare made me nervous.

"That's all?" She asked suspiciously.

"Uh... Yes." I confirmed.

"Okay then." She said surprisingly, before turning back to staring blankly at the Parisian skyline. Her eyes, which had been so full of flames a moment ago, showed no emotion.

"Princess, what's wrong?" I asked, a genuine voice of concern filled the air around us.

"You calling me 'Princess'."

"Would you prefer another nickname?"

"I have a feeling that they will just get worse."

I laughed, but then remembered that she was upset.

"No, seriously. What's wrong?"

Marinette sighed deeply, her breath fogging in the crisp air of Autumn's midnight.

"I don't really want to talk about it." She muttered. I was starting getting through to her, but she had closed herself off. I needed to say something to her, to try and anonymously make up for the happenings of the day we had just climbed out of. So, I said:

"Will I tell you about my day then?"

"Fire away, _Chaton_."

"See! Nicknames!" I pointed out and then continued our gloomy conversation.

"I found out that my friend liked me, and not in a friend way. She had a _crush_ on me."

She looked at me oddly.

"But... how is this bad news?" I felt offended once I realised what she meant. Of course Chat Noir came off as a flirt! I was always trying to impress Ladybug, but only Ladybug. Well, there was that one time when Mari and I had to take down Evillustrator, and I was acting a little flirty that day... Ah, I could see where she was coming from. Still, It didn't ease off the sting any less.

"I don't like every single girl I meet, Princess! I don't flirt with every single girl who passes by."

She still seemed confused.

"You don't?"

"No, jeez!"

Marinette looked shocked at this new revelation.

"I'm sorry," she apologised. "I thought that you were one of _those_ guys."

"Apology accepted, but you owe me a cookie. Or three."

She snorted. "Deal. But what did you do when the girl confessed to you?"

"I... I..." I trailed off, then I decided to tell her what I wished I had.

"I looked her dead in the eye and I said: I think that you are an amazing girl, don't get me wrong. You're one of my closest friends, and I _care_ about you, but I like someone else." Man, that's definitely what I should have said.

Marinette slumped forwards, clearly feeling worse.

"That's better than what Adrien did to me."

"Adrien? Adrien Agreste?" I asked, pretending to be shocked. "You like him?"

"Yeah. I've loved him for ages, but I always hid it. Well, not very well, but I tried. Then Chloè has to go and ruin it all." She blew a piece of dark hair out of her face.

"I don't know what I was expecting. A rejection, at least? But he just stared at me. He seemed so disgusted! What was I supposed to think? What was I supposed to _do?"_

She let a bitter laugh slip through her mouth while I cursed myself. I wanted to cry out to her, to tell her that I wasn't disgusted, but I was Chat Noir, not Adrien. Chat Noir didn't know how Adrien felt.

"Maybe he was just... surprised." I suggested, trying to make up for the behaviour of my alter-ego.

"Maybe," she replied. "But I should try and give up this stupid crush. It's not good for me, and I think I may be coming off as a stalker."

I did not ask why she thought she was a stalker; I decided I didn't really need or want to know.

"Oh," I replied instead, trying to keep my voice neutral.

We sighed in unison.

"You know," I said suddenly. "I don't really ever get to be myself. In civilian form, I'm pressured to be who my father wants me to be. But as Chat Noir, I feel free." I winced after saying that. "Sorry, that was random." I apologised, but she shook her head.

"No, it's fine. And I know what you mean. The way I see it, people are like onions."

We had crossed from a meaningful and well though conversation into borderline weird in two seconds flat. I tried to convey all of my confusion into one look.

"What?"

She laughed.

"What I mean is, we all have layers. Who we are on the outside isn't who we are on the inside. You feel free when you're Chat Noir because you get to let your inner layers show, I guess."

"Huh," I replied, drinking in her words of wisdom. "I'm an onion."

"Yes," she smiled, showing perfect white teeth and her eyes glittering with humour. "Chat Noir, you are an onion."

We went back to staring at the skyline. Standing with this girl, I felt happy. Maybe I could reconnect my friendship with her as Chat Noir instead of Adrien. But I would have to come back, and Mari might become uncomfortable with a boy in a leather cat suit visiting her at night. Oh, what was I going to do? But her voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Life _sucks_."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Life sucks."

You know what? I was _definitely_ coming back.


End file.
